10-28-2009, 08:18 AM
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#1
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Spartanville
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Agassi used crystal meth.
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American Andre Agassi has admitted in his new autobiography he lied to tennis authorities about his use of crystal methamphetamine to escape a ban.
Eight-time grand slam winner Agassi, who retired in 2006, said he used the drug in 1997 with ex-assistant 'Slim'.
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) said it could not comment because it withdrew a doping case against him.
"There is a moment of regret, followed by vast sadness," Agassi writes about the first time he used crystal meth.
"Slim dumps a small pile of powder on the coffee table," writes Agassi in his book, which the Times is serialising.
"He cuts it, snorts it. He cuts it again. I snort some.
"Then comes a tidal wave of euphoria that sweeps away every negative thought in my head. I've never felt so alive, so hopeful - and I've never felt such energy."
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It's the accepted explanation that gets me.
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The 39-year-old revealed he failed a drugs test that year but escaped a ban by saying his use was accidental.
Agassi, who is married to former women's world number one Steffi Graf, later writes that he received a call from a doctor working for the ATP in the autumn of 1997 to inform him that he had failed a drugs test.
The Las Vegas-born American says he wrote a letter to the ATP to argue the use was accidental, blaming his former assistant Slim.
"My name, my career, everything is now on the line. Whatever I've achieved, whatever I've worked for, might soon mean nothing," Agassi writes.
"Days later I sit in a hard-backed chair, a legal pad in my lap, and write a letter to the ATP. It's filled with lies interwoven with bits of truth.
"I say Slim, whom I've since fired, is a known drug user, and that he often spikes his sodas with meth - which is true. Then I come to the central lie of the letter.
"I say that recently I drank accidentally from one of Slim's spiked sodas, unwittingly ingesting his drugs. I ask for understanding and leniency and hastily sign it: Sincerely.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/8329193.stm
I'm confused as to why he would come out with this now and ruin his legacy not to mention the implications it'll have for his sport?
He can't be that short of cash?
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10-28-2009, 08:39 AM
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#2
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Powerplay Quarterback
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For closure I'm guessing. Somethings just haunt you, and being able to get them out in the open and admit to them helps.
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10-28-2009, 08:40 AM
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#3
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Franchise Player
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Yeah, this is a disaster. My respect for Agassi and the game of tennis just took a huge shot. Not only did he use Crystal Meth, but he lied about it when he got caught, and blamed someone else.
I'm glad the ATP just took his word for it though.
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10-28-2009, 09:40 AM
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#4
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Account closed at user's request.
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This isn't really all that surprising. A world ranking of 141, a crumbling marriage, plus health/fitness issues all conspire. He sure wasn't the media darling in the 90s like he was later in his career.
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10-28-2009, 10:06 AM
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#5
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: in transit
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Quote:
Originally Posted by corporatejay
Yeah, this is a disaster. My respect for Agassi and the game of tennis just took a huge shot. Not only did he use Crystal Meth, but he lied about it when he got caught, and blamed someone else.
I'm glad the ATP just took his word for it though.
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Why would your respect for the sport itself take a hit in this case? It has nothing to do with the game or the ATP.
What should the ATP have said? "No, Andre, we don't believe your story."
It sounded feasible.
Blame Agassi, lose respect for him if that is your will. But the game itself? Nah.
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10-28-2009, 10:21 AM
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#6
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Powerplay Quarterback
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Calgary
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kev
For closure I'm guessing. Somethings just haunt you, and being able to get them out in the open and admit to them helps.
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I have a hard time believing it was just for closure. Seems to me a great way to get publicity for a book coming out.
Another thing, although its only an a small paragraph in the book, it doesn't appear that he is actually saying anything bad about using meth. Yeah he says he felt bad for taking it, but he also claims it made him feel alive, and energized. Doesn't seem like he regrets doing it too badly.
But hey, Im sure it will sell a lot of books for him.
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10-28-2009, 01:59 PM
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#7
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Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Crowsnest Pass
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Crystal meth is not really a performance enhancer is it?
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10-28-2009, 02:06 PM
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#8
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Scoring Winger
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Central Sierra, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
Crystal meth is not really a performance enhancer is it?
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Based on things I've heard from military friends who've been exposed to it and the fact that kamikaze pilots in WWII are said to have used it, I'd say it depends on how you define performance. Could def. help with a marathon match I'd imagine.
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10-29-2009, 03:04 AM
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#9
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Account closed at user's request.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
Crystal meth is not really a performance enhancer is it?
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Not when you look at how poor Agassi's form was in '97. This stuff definitely did nothing to improve his game or individual performances.
Last edited by NBC; 10-29-2009 at 12:40 PM.
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10-29-2009, 10:24 AM
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#10
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Uncle Chester
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SI's Rick Reilly has a good article about the new book.
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Why is Agassi so scorchingly honest in these excerpts? Maybe because he once lived enough lies for five men. Or maybe because, as an educator, he's heard the truth can set him free.
But hopefully, by the time you close "Open," you'll know that this book is about more than the wrong turns he took. It's about how that broken road led him straight to the good man he is now.
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http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/colum...ick&id=4601145
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